The present invention relates to a pepper grinding tool.
Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, a heretofore known pepper grinding tool, which was filed by the same inventor of the present invention on Nov. 25, 1996, and patented from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office on Mar. 24, 1998 with U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,374, comprises a head member 1, a bottom socket 2, a restraining plate 3, a guide member 4, an adjustable grinder part 5, a movable member 6, a depressed block 7, a handled member 8, and an adjustment block 9 as main parts.
The head member 1 has a hollow portion 12, which is a hollow on a mediate portion thereof.
The restraining plate 3 is fixedly disposed on a bottom of the head member 1, and has a hole for an upper end of the movable member 6 to be passed therethrough.
The bottom socket 2 is fixedly connected to the bottom of the head member 1, and has a condiment exit 22 for a lower end of the movable member 6 to be passed therethrough.
The guide member 4 is fastened between the restraining plate 3 and the bottom socket 2.
The adjustable grinder part 5 is movably disposed in a guide channel of the guide member 4, and has a sloped toothed portion 51 facing the mavable member 6. The adjustable block 9 is provided for a user to adjust the distance between the sloped toothed portion 51 of the grinder part 5 and a toothed plate 62 fixed to the movable member 6, the grinder part 5 being capable of moving toward, or away from, the toothed plate 62 upon moving the adjustable block 9.
A spring 61 is associated with the movable member 6 to give it an upward biasing force.
The depressed block 7 is disposed on the hollow portion 12 of the head member 1, coupled to a top end of the movable member 6.
The handled member 8 is disposed within the hollow portion 12 of the head member 1, and pivoted to the head member 1 from a lower end thereof such that the handled member 8 can be pressed to move inwardly of the head member 1. The handled member 8 further has a pushing protrusion 81, which is adjacent to a top end slope 72 of the depressed block 7, such that the depressed block 7 is pushed downwards upon pushing the handled member 8 inwardly of the head member 1. Thus, the movable member 6 moves downward in order for the toothed plate 62 coupled thereto to move relative to the sloped toothed portion 51 of the grinder part 5 to grind pepper disposed in between.
The spring 61 biases the movable member 6 upward on the user releasing the handled member 8 after pressing. So, the user can press and release the handled member 8 repeatedly for the toothed plate 62 to move upward and downward to grind the pepper.
When the pepper is ground into finer one, it falls out of the pepper grinding tool from the condiment exit 22.